We Haven't Heard the Last Word on TeradataWe Haven't Heard the Last Word on Teradata

Monday's announcement by NCR that it will spin off its Teradata Data Warehousing business comes as the latter faces increased competition from the likes of IBM, Oracle and SAS Institute at the high end. Meanwhile, upstarts such as Netezza and DATAAllegro are picking off data-mart and focused-data-warehouse implementations with their low-cost, high-performance appliances. Hewlett-Packard is also joining the fray with its emerging Neoview portfolio.With annual revenues of $1.5 billion, operating income of $309 billion and an impressive list of high-profile customers, the Teradata business is in an enviable position in many ways, but execs say they'll be able to respond more quickly to ever-rising performance expectations -- many enabled by the latest multi-core processors -- once the unit isn't tethered to a larger company that has to pay attention to the very different business of developing automated teller machines, retail self-checkout systems, automated bill payment systems and other point-of-sale and customer-support technologies and services.

Wall Street likes this move because the market will "recognize greater value in Teradata." Teradata executives are sticking to the script about an independent path forward, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the company quickly snatched up by an IBM or HP that could also bring high-powered hardware into the mix. Former NCR top-exec and now HP CEO Mark Hurd knows Teradata only too well, and an acquisition would more than fill out the gaps in HP's portfolio (not to mention its customer list) that need to be filled before it can be a credible, top-tier player in data warehousing.

For now, it's business as usual for Teradata as the spinoff is expected to take six to nine months to complete.

Doug Henschen is the Editor of IntelligentEnterprise.com.Monday's announcement by NCR that it will spin off its Teradata Data Warehousing business comes as the latter faces new competition from HP and increased competition from established rivals including IBM, Oracle, SAS and appliance players Netezza and DATAAllegro. Teradata executives are sticking to the script about an independent path forward, but I won't be surprised to see Teradata snatched up by a larger rival.